Farrell Area Schools —Centennial Celebration 1901 - 2001


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[FHS Insignia]

 

FASD Centennial Quiz…

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  1. The first volume of the Farrell Senior High School Reflector sold for one dollar per copy. In which year was The Reflector first published?

  2. What are the words of Farrell High School's Alma Mater?

  3. What year did the residents of Farrell present Farrell High School with a modern Athletic Field?
    The dedication game on Farrell's new home grounds ended in a 12 to 0 victory in favor of which team?

  4. The first basketball team formed during which year?

  5. What did Professor C. G. Cannon, the first Superintendent of Schools, do to increase the student enrollment?

  6. Which Superintendent of Schools formed the first football team?

  7. During which year did the first girl's basketball team form?

  8. Name the Indian warrior who owned the hunting land which was to become the city of Farrell.

  9. Who started the area's first steel mill?

  10. In 1900 Miles J. Patton built the first house in South Sharon (Farrell). What was its location?

  11. How many Superintendents has the Farrell School District had since it began as the Borough of South Sharon in 1901

  12. Which senior class had only three graduates?

  13. Which class was the first to hold its commencement exercises in the new High School located at Fruit Avenue and Haywood Street?

  14. Half of the alumni of this class returned to their old Alma Mater as teachers. How many graduates were there?

  15. Which class was the first to be photographed in caps and gowns?

  16. In 1912 the Borough of South Sharon was renamed ‘Farrell’. What was the significance of the name ‘Farrell’?

  17. This graduate class honored their faculty by publishing a poem in the Reflector describing each teacher.

  18. The initiation ceremony for the underclassmen was to have their heads shaved by the Seniors. The girls of this same class showed their desire to economize by limiting the price of their graduation dress to $25.00.

  19. Name the Farrell High School football player (an alumnus of the Class of 1922) who became the first Junior High School principal (1938) and FASD's superintendent of schools in 1945.

  20. Name the class which created Farrell's School Insignia.

  21. Name the Farrell football coach who disbanded the team after their sixth consecutive defeat.

  22. During which year did Superintendent W.W. Irwin proudly boast that a total of 2085 men and women had been graduated from FHS?

  23. This class dedicated their Reflector to the 5630 men and women had been graduated from FHS?

  24. In 1910 Professor Frost became the first music teacher. How did he finance the purchase of the school's first piano?

  25. The Eckles building, located at Indiana and Negley Street, was named for R.L. Eckles. Who was R. L. Eckles?

  26. Identify the graduating class which was the first to receive a diploma bearing the inscription of Farrell High School instead of South Sharon High School.

  27. In 1917 the Pargny school was named in honor of the President of the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company. What did this company do to create a need for a new elementary school?

  28. When was the Public Address System installed in the Farrell High School?

  29. What words of comfort did Farrell's class president Anton Bauer have for his classmates upon their defeat to rival Sharon High ?

  30. What words of joy expressed a victory over rival Sharon High?

  31. Harold Parsons was the only Farrell High graduate to be killed in action in World War I. He was a graduate of which class?

  32. This class lived under the shadow of World War II. They were in the eighth grade when on December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor was bombed. During their senior year Japan signed an unconditional surrender. Name the war related activities in which they participated to help the war effort.

  33. Identify the class which lost at least 50 members in World War II.

  34. Who resigned his position as Superintendent of the Farrell Public Schools to become a Congressman of the United States?

  35. This Farrell High Basketball victory was celebrated with a huge Bonfire the flame of which reached 50 feet into the air?

  36. Name the student of the Class of 1922 who returned to Farrell High School to become a teacher, a high school principal and the superintendent. He was the first FHS graduate to attain this honor in his home town.

  37. Name the FHS student who was crowned “Miss Farrell” during the city's 1927 Silver Jubilee Celebration. She became an English teacher at Farrell High School where she taught for 43 years.

  38. Superintendent William W. Irwin told the 1927 graduates that a college education would cost between $800.00 and $1200.00 a year. What criteria did he suggest they should use in selecting a good college?

  39. Farrell's economic life was threatened after World War II when the Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corporation was abandoning its holdings. Who salvaged the city's industrial life by negotiating the purchase of the Farrell Works of Carnegie-Illinois Steel?

  40. During four days of torrential rains in 1913 the Shenango River overflowed its banks flooding the Valley. How was the constant threat of flooding eliminated?

  41. The Newberry medal is an award given for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The authoress E. L. Konigsburg won it for From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Elaine Lobl Konigsburg was a graduate of which FHS class?

  42. Several of Elaine Konigsburg's books were the basis for made-for-TV movies which were aired on ABC and the Disney networks. Can you name the novels written by this FHS student on which the TV stories were based?

  43. He served as President of his class and Captain of the Football Squad. With his brother Ted he co-produced the popular films Raising Arizona and Barton Fink. Who was he?

  44. Mr. Richard Rubano, FASD's current Superintendent of Schools, is an alumnus of which FHS class?

  45. High School Principal Quincy G. Vincent expected five things from the 1927 graduates. What were they?

  46. The graduates of this class elected to be photographed in their cap and gown for their individual yearbook photo.

  47. This was the first graduating class to have individual color photographs published in the Reflector.

  48. The 1920 Reflector contained 75 advertisements from local merchants. Do you recognize any of the patrons?

  49. Which FHS class celebrated the dedication of the new Athletic Field?
    The dedication game on Farrell's new home grounds ended in a 12 to 0 victory in favor of which team?

  50.  

Mercer County Facts …
  • Hickory Township was named after Andrew Jackson, President of the United States from 1829 through part of 1837. Jackson's nickname was “Old Hickory.”

  • The name “Pymatuning” is derived from the Iroquois. It means “The Crooked-Mouthed Man's Dwelling Place”.

  • On February 21, 1872 the borough of “Wheatland” was incorporated. It was named after President James Buchanan's rural home which was located in Lancaster County.

  • Sharon was incorporated as a Borough on October 6, 1841.

  • On June 7, 1918 Frank Buhl died in his home. He left $2,000,000 to war torn Northern France and Belgium in his will.

  • The land known as Mercer County (purchased from the Indians) was designated in 1783 by the Pennsylvania State Legislature as donations to the soldiers of the Revolutionary War.

  • Ripley's “Believe it or Not” listed Farrell as the “City of Churches” noting that it had more churches (and beer gardens) than any city its size in the country.

  • The total estimated tax revenue of Mercer County on 1804 was $1,474.94 - a six cent deficit.

Farrell Facts…
[ Volunteer Fire Dept] [Farrell Fire Dept]
Photos courtesy Pearl June Fowler Gossack — FHS '45.
Her Grandfather, Frank Fowler was a member of the volunteer fire department

  • Geological acton over the ages formed the Shenango Valley's landscape. Glaciers cut a mammouth hollow which almost severed Farrell. Idaho Street was located on the North side of the “Hollow” and Haywood Street on the South Side.

  • The first issue of The Sharon Herald was published on April 11, 1864.

  • In 1902 Lot No. 158 on Darr Avenue was purchased for $370.00 as the site for the borough's jail.

  • In 1902 a ‘street lighting’ system was adopted. ‘Lamplighters-for-a-day’ volunteered to trample through rain and snow to start the gaslights. Millworkers who had to leave their homes during the late hours no longer were solely dependent on the lanterns they carried.

  • In 1902 the first school board moved to secure a $2,500.00 loan to purchase a school building . This two story structure became known as the Lincoln Building

  • In 1902 the Colonial Trust Company advertised that it was the first bank in Mercer County to pay four per cent interest on time deposits, the first to open on Saturday evenings for the convenience of the people, and the first bank in the county to install an electric alarm system in its building, making its vaults absolutely burglar proof.

  • At a meeting on April 14, 1903, the borough council approved the building of the South Sharon Fire Station and voted to set the total cost of the lot and building at not over $3000.00 (later raised to $5,990.00).

  • In 1936 the movement to consolidate Farrell with Sharon as a greater “Buhl City” was defeated eleven to one. With the steel plants contributing much toward Farrell's tax fund, local property owners enjoyed low taxation and felt their per capita taxes would have to be raised had the towns consolidated.

  • In 1937 Farrell's third Post Office opened at the corner of Spearman Avenue and Haywood Street. The new modern facility cost $100,000 to build.

  • The Shenango River overflowed its banks during the great flood of 1913. An accumulation of 16.87 feet of water devastated the area, particularly Sharon, Broadway and the steel mills.

  • The great snow storm of 1950 dumped 29 inches of snow on Farrell crippling the city for four days. Volunteers worked to clear the town's main arteries for emergency travel and millworkers formed “shovel-gangs” to open the Sharon Steel Corporation mills.

  • On August 14, 1951, during Farrell's Golden Jubilee celebration, Haywood Street was renamed Roemer Boulevard in honor of Henry Roemer then President of Sharon Steel Corporation.

  • On the afternoon of May 31, 1985 a devastating 6 hour storm of tornados swept across Western Pennsylvania with an F-5 twister touching down in Wheatland, Pennsylvania, cutting a 47-mile long swath. It killed 18 people and injured at least 310 more.

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    A message from the Pedas Family
    Any errors on these pages are unintentional. We welcome suggestions and contributions. Contact George Pedas. We are indebted to Ted Pedas for his generous funding of this project and to Kathy Pedas for her efforts in preparing the archival files. All rights reserved.   Contact Ted Pedas .